The Moment I Knew
by prettystories
Summary: When Caius meets a certain girl he is immediately intrigued. And confused. She makes him feel like he has never felt before. He likes her. But can she ever love him back? Or will he scare her away? Caius / OC Lovestory Rated M just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Chapter 1**

Caius let out a groan of frustration as he left his chambers and slammed the door behind him.

"I heard that!" Athenodora screeched through the closed door, her voice high, piercing his ears.

 _"Good!"_ he almost spat but he bit his tongue. Unlike her he wasn't the little kid anymore who insisted on having the last word. No, he wouldn't lower himself to her level.

But then again he knew having the last word - and winning their argument with that - filled her with satisfaction and he didn't want to give her that either.

A menacing growl erupted from his chest as he made his way to his study. He didn't feel much like working right now to be honest but at least he didn't have to spend time with the foolish woman he called his wife.

Why had he married her in the first place? Yes, she was quite pretty, or at least she had been a few decades ago. But with time her beauty had faded away and her bad sides had become more prominent.

Her vanity, her craving for power, her demanding attitude.

Once he had thought those characteristics attractive. He had admired her. Admired her enough to ask for her hand in marriage. Back then he had thought himself lucky to have a woman like her by his side.

But now, after almost 2000 years, they couldn't even spend one minute in the same room without getting at each other's throats.

Unless, of course, when they were having sex.  
Sex was probably the only thing that kept them together. Whenever he needed to let off some steam he went to see Athena.

Their relationship - if there had ever been one - had become purely physical.

Unfortunately now, that he really needed to let off some steam, he couldn't turn to his wife.

He growled again as he sat back in his chair in his study and tried to focus on the stack of paper in front of him.

Someone knocked on the door.

"What?!" Caius barked. This'd better be not the human secretary. He felt like tearing someone's head off.

The door opened and Aro stepped in. The beast inside Caius roared. Aro was the last person he wanted to talk to right now.

He didn't want to hear comforting words or anything like that. All he wanted was to take out his anger in some way.

"So, you had another argument with Athenodora," it was a statement not a question.

"And why, pray tell, is this any of your business, brother?" Caius hissed.

"Well, it is not. But as your brother I am worried about your relationship and..."

"There is no relationship between Athena and me," Caius snapped at him, "We don't love each other, we merely tolerate each other."

"Yet your actions hurt her. Couldn't you try to be a bit more sensitive?"

"My actions? Do you think I don't know what she is doing behind my back? Do you think I'm an idiot? I know exactly that she is sleeping around with half of the guard."

"But you don't do anything about it," Aro countered causing Caius to snort.

"I believe killing every single one of them would hardly make you happy."

Aro sighed. This was leading nowhere. "No it wouldn't. But..."

"Enough already. I don't want to hear about it, Aro. Get out! I have work to do."

For a moment Aro looked like he wanted to respond something to that and maybe it would have been the right thing to do. Getting Caius in another fight so he could take out some anger.

But then he thought about their last fight and how his study had looked afterwards and quickly decided against it. Instead he left the room with one last pitiful look at his brother who was already trying to focus on the letter in front of him.

As soon as Caius heard the closing of the door he looked up and leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes in an attempt to calm down.

The sounds and smells of the castle rushing down at him. He could hear Marcus in the gardens, smell the old stone walls, the old paint of the paintings in the corridors, the faint scent of the human secretary in the entry hall, Athena giggling as someone kissed her... he snapped back to reality his eyes flying open.

This did it. He needed to take his mind off things and since he couldn't go to his wife for that he had to go with the second option.

Long ago, when he had first found out about Athenodora's disloyalty he had promised himself that he would never lower himself as much as she had done.

However, after a couple of years with nomadic vampire women stopping in Volterra every now and then, he had changed his mind.

Of course he didn't feel anything for any of them but it was a nice change.

And if there wasn't any nomad around he would pay the bars in Volterra or in one of the villages close by a visit.

Human girls were much easier to seduce than vampire girls and on top of it if they annoyed him too much he could always turn them into a snack and get rid of them.

Yes, that's what he was going to do now. He hadn't been to the bars in Volterra for quite a while now. Time to change that.

A look through the windows of his study told him that the sun already was setting, dipping everything in gold with its last rays.

He got to his feet, grabbed his jacket and left the large room not intending to come back until the next morning.

"Where are you going?" Aro asked as he crossed his path on the way out. It was a rhetorical question though. He knew exactly where Caius was going but he was hoping that saying it out loud would make his brother feel at least a bit guilty.

But it was hopeless. Caius didn't even turn around as he answered.

"Out."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Chapter 2**

Caius roamed the narrow streets of Volterra. Everything was dark, only illuminated by the moon and an old street light every now and then.

It was a beautiful night. Cool and clear. When he looked up he could see dozens of stars in the sky.

A slight breeze played with his platin blond hair. Decades ago he would have enjoyed a night like this. Just sitting beneath the stars, thinking about the world.

But no longer. So many things had changed since then.

He turned around another corner making his way to the town centre shaking his head slightly as if to get rid of the nostalgia.

A movement to his right made him stop and turn his head. A door opened and a boy and a girl stepped out of a building. They were laughing and joking around loudly as they disappeared into the night.

Caius grimaced at their behaviour. _"Humans,"_ he thought disparagingly. Then turned his head back to the building they had come out from.

It was a pub, obviously. An old sign hanging over the entrance announced its name in large letters. The paint was already flaking peeling off but he could still read the two words.

 _The Glory_

He took a look at the rest of the building. It seemed equally as old as the sign. Through the windows flooded warm yellow light and he could hear laughter and music from inside.

He had never seen this one before.

 _"It must be new."_

And judging by the voices that reached his vampire hearing it was full of students from the university round the corner.

The obvious British vibe the pub was giving off made him curious. It was like nothing he had ever been to before around here.

And young student girls would be an easy target. All in all it was exactly what he was looking for tonight.

Without another thought he pushed the door open and entered.

The pub consisted of one large room made out of wooden boards. Tables of different sizes were scattered across the room, all of them occupied with two or more people.

Most of them were sipping at their drinks, chatting happily with each other. The air was filled with laughter, music and the sound of beer bottles being placed on wooden ground.

Every last one of those people were students, no doubt.

Caius tore his gaze from the people sitting on the tables and took in the rest of the room. On the left wall were two doors apparently leading to the restrooms. The right side of the room was occupied by a small stage, which was most likely meant for little acts or something but it was empty at the moment.

And right across the room was the bar. A few mortals were leaning against it or sitting on high chairs, drinking to each other and talking.

He made his way across the room, leaned against the bar and ordered something to drink from the guy behind the bar.

"Straight scotch."

The guy, a tall man with three-day beard, probably the only adult in the pub, just nodded and disappeared.

Caius turned his head to examine the females in the room. Looking for his prey.

Some of them looked pretty young. Too young for his taste.  
Others, however, matched his physical age but were way too modern for him. All this make-up the girls nowadays were wearing. It was like their faces were painted.

He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

A glass was placed on the bar in front of him. "Looking for someone to hook up with?" a female voice asked.

He turned his head back around.

In front of him, behind the counter, stood a girl he hadn't noticed before.

She was tall and slim to the point of being skinny and she wore a black top with thin straps and a v-collar which was decorated with black lace. It looked quite sexy although it didn't show too much cleavage.

Her brown hair was cut into a short bob and a fringe which complimented her brown eyes and her high cheekbones perfectly.

Her lips were curved into a grin as she examined Caius' face.

"Oh my," she laughed, "you really are, aren't you?"

Caius just kept starring at her, dumbfounded by her bluntness.

"Well, just in case you don't find a willing victim, blondie over there flirts with everything that doesn't wear a skirt," the girl nodded towards a girl standing not far from them.

He turned his head and looked at said girl. She was tall, blond, wore clothes that were either too tight or too short and fitted pretty much every cliché he had ever heard about blondes.

The girl was right, she was the kind of girl who would be easily seduced. But something made him turn back to the girl behind the counter.

He raised his brows and took the glass with the scotch in one hand.  
"I can't see you wearing a skirt. Why isn't she flirting with you?"

Why the hell had he said that? It sounded like something one of those pathetic mortal boys would say.

Yet, the girl didn't seem to mind. She just tilted her head and kept smiling thoughtfully.

"Maybe I am wearing a skirt. It's not like you can see anything below my bellybutton. I could be standing here wearing a kilt for all you know."

A grin played at the corner of his mouth and he struggled to get the muscles in his face back under control.

What was wrong with him? What was she doing?

"I don't believe one word you say," he took a sip of his drink.

"Well, if it doesn't work out with blondie over there you can always come and check at the end of my shift."

She flashed one last smile at him and turned away towards a boy who had just showed up at the bar, all the while carefully avoiding to reveal what she was wearing below her waistline.

Caius couldn't take his gaze from her. How very strange she was.

The way she moved and talked, the way she had grinned at him. She had almost made him smile. No one had managed this in ages.

And here she was, a mortal girl almost making him smile within the blink of an eye.

He kept watching her as she talked to the boy. He seemed to be a friend of hers. They were arguing about whether he could copy her notes for history.

"No, Dean. Take your own bloody notes for Christsake!"

So she was a student. He wondered what her name was.

 _"Wait! What are you thinking?!",_ he scolded himself. He was here for one reason and one reason only.

And yet, this girl was... different. She had stirred something in him.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it but something about her fascinated him. Made him curious.

She didn't strike him as the kind of girl that would fall for some endearing words whispered into her ear.

Cautiously he took another sip of scotch. The beast inside him was up for a challenge.

 _"Let's see how long it will take me to get her."_


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: All recognisable charachters belong to Stepahnie Meyer**

 **Sorry for taking so Long with this. I had some very busy days.  
Hope you like it.  
Love XX**

 **Chapter 3**

She locked the back door behind her and put the key back into her pocket while yawning. It had been a long evening and all she wanted to do now was going home and getting into bed.

Her warm, comfortable bed. She smiled just at the thought of it.

"So you don't wear a skirt after all," a voice said out of the darkness which ruled the alleyway the backdoor of the pub was in.

She jumped and almost let out a small yelp of fear. Thankfully she didn't. After regaining control over her body she glared into the darkness of the alleyway.

A figure appeared in the blackness and soon she recognised the long blond hair.

"Jesus bloody Christ! What are you, mad?" she marched towards the blond guy, "I don't know who you are but if you ever scare the crap out of me like that again, I swear I'll make you regret it."

"A bit jumpy, are we?" he asked with a smirk.

"I'm a girl, in a dark alleyway. I am not jumpy, I'm careful."

"Well, you should have known that I would be here. After all, you invited me to see you after your shift."

Was this guy serious?

"Anyway, as I said, you don't wear a skirt and yet the blond one didn't flirt with you."

 _"Yeah, I've got another blond one flirting with me. Do you think I'm an idiot?",_ she thought but aloud she just said, "Maybe I'm just not her type."

After a short pause she added, "And obviously you aren't her type either. Or you wouldn't be here now."

He looked fairly impressed. "Cheeky."

"Tell me something I don't know," she grinned at him.

"How about you tell me something I don't know. Your name for example."

She looked him up and down as good as she could in the light of the small lamp which enlightened the back door of the pub, clearly deliberating wether he was a lunatic or not.

"Sam," she said after a while.

"Tha's not a girl's name."

"Yeah, fine, it's Samantha but no one calls me that."

"Sam," he said as if to test the taste of her name.

Sam's brows rose. "Your turn," she announced.

"Caius," he said.

"You've got a weird name."

"Says the girl with a boys name."

Sam raised her finger like one would do to correct a toddler, "I beg to differ. I've got a very feminine name. Just my nickname is a boy's one."

Caius' lips quirked into a grin. "Fair enough."

"All right, Caius, what are you doing here? Except for making sure I'm not wearing a skirt."

"I'm here to walk you home," he announced as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okayyy," Sam said, not sure what to make of this, "Then let's go." And with that she walked past him towards the main street.

Caius followed her suit.

They walked in silence for a few seconds until Caius asked, "Where are you living anyway?"

"In a flat just round the corner," Sam said nonchalantly. Apparently she had decided to trust him. _Foolish mortal._

"Alone?"

She turned to face him, "Yes, alone."

"Well, most students wouldn't live on their own."

"How do you know I'm a student?"

"Educated guessing."

"I see. Well, I am not like most students."

"Evidently."

Sam looked at him for a moment while they walked then she laughed and shook her head at him.

"What?" Caius enquired.

"You're weird, you know?"

"Am I now?"

"Yeah. I can't quite put my finger on it but there's just something about you that makes you... different."

They came to a halt in front of a building. A few steps led up to a door.

"I mean, you wait for a girl you barely know in a dark allyway and then you walk her home instead of hooking up with a certain mentioned girl who would have been more than willing to do so and for which you obviously came to The Glory in the first place. That's just weird."

Caius moved closer to her closing the small distance between them.  
"Well, maybe I have laid my eye on something prettier," he said smiling while tugging a strand of hair behind her ear.

"A certain girl who isn't wearing a skirt perhaps?" he held her gaze and started to lean in.

"Woah! What are you doing?" Sam bursted out and took a step back leaving Caius taken aback. In all his existence this had never happened before. Never had a girl rejected him.

Sam pushed her short hair back. "Listen, I'm sure you're a very nice guy but I have a boyfriend, okay?"

Caius found his voice again. "He doesn't have to know," he took a step towards her but she put her hand flat on his chest and held him on arm length.

"No. I don't want this. It was sweet of you to walk me home, really. But I'm not gonna ask you to come upstairs."

She sounded very determined.

"Wow," Caius pushed his hair back, "This is a first."

"You've never been rejected before?"

"No."

"Wait, so every girl you tried to hook up with was stupid enough to fall for you?"

"You make this sound like a bad thing."

"Why, it is a bad thing. You make them believe that you care for them, that you love them. You shouldn't play with their feelings like that," she sounded genuienly concerned.

"There are no feelings," he said indifferently, "Never."

"Don't you believe in love?" she asked her voice soft. The question left him speechless for a moment. No one had ever asked him that.

He was about to say no but then he thought of a more elaborated answer. "I believe that love doesn't get you anywhere. It makes people weak. They start to think with their heart instead of their mind and therefore aren't able to make proper decisions.

Love equals weak spots in your armour. It is the things we love most that destroy us."

"Well, I believe in love," Sam crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Maybe not love at first sight but I believe that there's love for everyone. You just have to find it."

"Words of a true romantic," Caius snorted, "What about the darkest souls in our universe. The ones who murder without a second thought. The ones with their heart so poisonous it makes you sick even to be around them? Do you believe there's someone for them too?"

Sam said nothing for a while. At last she sat on the steps in front of the door, her arms resting on her knees and tilted her head at him.

"I believe that those people experienced a lot of darkness and pain in their lifes. And to protect themselves from it they build high walls around them, shutting everyone out. They never show the world their true face because they fear to get hurt again. It's a mask made for selfpreservation.

But at one point they will meet someone who sees behind that mask. Who sees how lonely and sad they really are. And they will reach out and touch their heart and bring some light back into their lifes."

Caius let her words sink in for some seconds. He had never looked at it that way. Then, without realising what he was doing, he sat down on the concrete steps next to Sam.

"That's a nice thought," he said quietly.

"It's all about finding the right person. Some might search their whole lifes without finding them."

"And some think they found them only to realise that they are stuck with the wrong one."

"But it's our own choice, isn't it? Life's full of choices and we can choose to continue our search or stay with who we are. Even though we know it's the wrong person."

"Why do we do this to ourselves. Staying with someone who doesn't make us happy? It's foolish." suddenly Caius thought of Athenodora. She didn't make him happy yet he had kept her by his side for so long. Why was this? Sam was right, it was all up to him. He could always move on.

 _"Hold on, what am I thinking? She can't be right. If it would be this easy I would have thought of it myself."_ he mentally scolded himself.

His brow furrowed in thought. What was this mortal doing to him?

Sam turned to look at his profile. "We accept the love we think we deserve, you know?"

Caius quirked an eyebrow he grinned a bit.

There it was again! How could she make him smile so easily?

"You've read that somewhere, haven't you?"

"Yes," Sam grinned back, "But it's true all the same."

"Indeed." he raised his gaze and looked up to the stars above them. This night hadn't turned out as he had intended. Strangely though he didn't mind.

He didn't mind at all.

 **Read & Review**

 **=)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Hello everyone =)**

 **Sorry for not updating this story in so long.**  
 **Writing in Caius' pov was harder than I thought but I think I know how to do this now.**  
 **Let me know what you think of the story so far.**  
 **Also if anyone has an idea for what should happen next, I'm open for suggestions =)**

 **Love**  
 **prettystories**

 **Chapter 4**

The last rays of the sun shone through the large windows of the Volturi castle dipping the rooms into shades of red and orange. Caius was walking up and down in front of the large fireplace in his office. He had been doing this for hours now.

Never before had he felt so restless. Inside him blustered a thunderstorm of emotions. Few of them familiar.

Rage. Hate.

Others he had never felt before. He hadn't even known that he was capable of feeling them.

It was late afternoon the day after he had met... the girl.

He refused to refer to her in any other way. She was just a little human. Nothing more.

Yet he still couldn't stop thinking about her. How she had fascinated him from the moment he had seen her. Never before had he felt the urge to speak to someone so badly.

And when he had she had intrigued him even more. She was so much unlike all other girls he had seduced so far. With her high cheekbones and her short hair, something he considered highly unflattering on women.

 _'But it suits her'_.

Stop! What was he thinking. He didn't care what she looked like or if it suited her. There was only one thing he wanted from her.

And this one thing he hadn't gotten.

Why had he given in so fast when she had told him no?

Something like that hadn't stopped him before. Why this time? And how had she gotten him to just sit on those bloody stairs and talk about his life all night long?

What kind of spell had this mortal cast over him to make him talk about his feelings? By now she probably knew more about what was going on inside him than anyone else.

He groaned in frustration and leaned his elbow against the mantel, propping his head into his hand.

This was a nightmare!

 _'But didn't you enjoy it? It was nice to talk to someone, wasn't it?'_

"No, it wasn't!", he hissed sharply at the voice of his consciousness, too stubborn to admit the truth.

He heard the door open behind him and turned around, ready to yell at the guard who dared to disturb him.

However, it was Marcus.

"Talking to yourself are you brother?" he asked and crossed his arms in front of his chest, a sad little smile playing on his lips.

Ever since Marcus' mate Dydime had been killed he had been but a shadow of his former self.

His face almost always displayed a mixture of utter sadness and indifference, like he was only counting the days until someone would finally kill him too so he could be reunited with the love of his life.

But of course Aro would never let that happen.

"And what if?", Caius snapped. Although he had a great deal of respect for his brother he also regarded him as the living evidence of what love made out of you.

It made you weak, vulnerable and it destroyed you in one way or the other. Caius had sworn to himself long ago that this would never happen to him. Only the weak loved and he was not weak.

Marcus raised his eyebrows. "You seem extremely tense given the fact that you have made one of your infamous visits to the human world last night."

Caius snorted angrily. He couldn't listen to his brothers badly hidden accusations of hurting Athena anymore.

It was none of their goddamned business!

He glared at Marcus. "Since when is it a crime to be annoyed? And stop trying to make me feel guilty for cheating on Athena. It's none of your bloody business what I'm doing or who I am hurting."

"But Athena loves you, Caius..." Marcus started carefully but was cut off by his brother.

"No she doesn't! She loves the power being my wife gives her! Do you all think I am an idiot?"

Marcus opened his mouth but Caius continued "And to calm your consciousness; nothing happened last night. You hear me? Nothing whatsoever."

That put Marcus to silence for a moment.

"Who is she?" he finally asked.

"What?"

"Who is she? She must be some girl indeed if she manages to keep you out and about all night but not letting you sleep with her."

"She is nothing!" Caius spat "Do you really think just because I let her have her will she is something special?"

A growl rose in his chest as he glared at his brother who had now taken a seat at the fireplace.

"She is just a stupid little mortal." he went on in his anger "And the only reason why she is here... the only reason why she _exists_ is for my... our nutrition. I can..."

"You don't have to feel humiliated by this brother." Marcus interrupted Caius' endless rant.

Although he had meant this in a soothing way it did the complete opposite. Caius exploded.

"Humiliated?!" he roared his fist colliding with the nearest wall with an ear shuttering sound, leaving a large hole and several deep cracks in the stones around it.

If looks could kill Marcus would have burnt right there in his chair. Slowly Caius walked his brother still bristling with anger. It was like observing a panther approaching his prey.

"There is no human in this world, not a single one, who would ever humiliate me and live on to tell about it, Marcus." he hissed.

"And certainly not that girl. How dare you to put me on the same level as this worthless little mortal?"

Marcus got up very carefully not to give the blond vampire in front of him any more reason to tear his head off. He knew exactly that if it wasn't for him being his brother and fellow leader of the Volturi Caius would had torn him into shreds by now.

He quickly took him in as he was standing in front of him, every muscle in his lean body tense and ready to pounce at him, his red eyes blazing with rage and his upper lip pulled back to bare his teeth as he snarled lowly in his chest.

In this very moment Caius truly looked like the predator he was.

A sudden pang of pity and self-blame hit Marcus. He knew his brother. Had known him for centuries.

He knew that after they had finished this conversation Caius would go back to the city, find the girl and let out his anger. She would be dead before midnight.

If it hadn't been for him and his thoughtless confrontation he might would have forgotten about her and her life would have been spared.

How could he have been so foolish.

He should have thought this all through. Yes, he had noticed the faint bond Caius carried home last night. A beautiful bond. Based on honesty and care. Yet it had been faint and fragile.

What had surprised him most was the fact that his brother had already started to feel the connection. And although he didn't seem to know where his sudden feelings had come from, they had confused him greatly.

Marcus had made it his task to find out what had happened in the past night. Secretly he had been hoping that after all this time Caius had finally found someone he couldn't hide his emotions from.

Someone who saw behind his mask of hatred and anger and actually cared for him. Cared for the person he truly was.

It would have done him good.

But now he had ruined it. Had ruined everything. He felt like such an idiot.

"Caius," he said softly, "I wanted bynomeans indicate that you have been humiliated by this girl."

"Don't treat me like a boy Marcus. I know exactly what you are up to. But it is forlorn hope. And you are very well aware of that."

He turned away from him and towards the door. The sun had finally set.

"You are angry at me Caius. Don't let it out on the poor girl. It is not her fault." Marcus called after him.

"Oh but it is. This is all her fault. And I will put an end to this mess."

A cruel little smile played around his lips as he closed the door behind him with a loud bang.

Marcus sighed tiredly. "Oh what have I done?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **A/N: Hello sweethearts**  
 **Thanks for everyone who followed or/and liked this story.**  
 **I am so so sorry for not updating in so long. I had some ideas for the whole story but I wanted to do this right and not rushing anything so I gave myself some extra time to finish and edit this chapter.**  
 **I'd be happy to read your opinions about the story so far in the reviews.**  
 **At last, I hope the next chapter won't take so long to write but I can't promise anything yet.**

 **Love you all!**  
 **XX**

 **Chapter 5**

Caius' thoughts were spinning as he walked through the nocturnal village back to the pub where he had first met the girl.

He wasn't entirely sure what he would do once he saw her again but he knew he had to do something if he didn't want to lose his face.

The beast inside him wanted to see her dead but not before he had had his way with her.  
However, he was not sure if he could do this. She fascinated him in a way he could hardly explain and it made him wanting to get to know her better.

He wanted to know everything about this strange girl who had had the guts to reject him.

 _"You have a reputation to lose!"_ the beast inside him growled, _"And she is just a worthless human!"_

It was right. He was Caius Volturi. The sadistic vampire king. One of the cruellest monsters that have ever walked this earth. He didn't give a shit about feelings and that sort of things. They were for the weak.

And yet, a tiny part of him itched to respond to the beast. To argue with it. But before it could come that far he shoved that part far away into the farthest corner of his subconsciousness so it may remain silent.

He didn't need it's soft-hearted advice! He would have some long needed distraction with the girl tonight and then get rid of her body before dawn.

The Glory appeared in front of him. As last night the voices of dozens of people and the sound of music sounded through its windows.

With one swift move Caius opened the door to the pub and entered. The large room was full of people shouting and laughing.

Quickly he scanned the room. His eyes flew to the bar.

And there she was.

Standing behind the bar, wearing an over-sized black jumper with wholes on its left shoulder and a large collar which slacked over her right shoulder exposing the bare skin of it.

She just placed a pint in front of a guy while telling him something. The guy said something and she laughed.

Was this her boyfriend? He felt a small sting somewhere in his chest but made it a point to ignore it.

Carefully so he wouldn't draw her attention too fast he made his way through the crowd. The closer he came the easier it was for him to overhear her conversation with the boy over the shouting and talking of the crowd.

"...and then he asked 'How fast does light travel?' and Leila, totally absorbed by scribbling away in her notebook, murmured 'Hella' and the guy next to her, who had just taken a sip from his water, totally lost it. He spit out all the water while the prof was still standing right in front of him. I swear to god their faces were priceless! Best thing ever!"

"Holy crap, this really happened? You skip a lesson one fucking time and what happens? Damn it!"

"I told you not to do it. But seriously this is so like Leila. I mean... Oh hey!" as soon as she had spotted his blond hair she turned her head towards him and flashed him a bright smile that almost let him forget his intentions.

But only almost.

"Look who has found his way back. How are you?"

He couldn't help but smirk at her. "Good."

"Great. Here you go." she placed a glass in front of him. For a second he looked at it puzzled. He hadn't ordered anything and yet she had poured him a glass of straight scotch.

"How did you..?"

"Educated guess." she smiled. Such a lovely smile. So warm and sincere. All of a sudden he failed to think straight. As much as he tried to he couldn't bring himself to look away.

His thoughts all turned into one direction. He couldn't think of anything else than Sam right in front of him with her beautiful smile and her deep brown eyes, sparkling as she looked at him, which seemed to see right into his soul and through the black veil that surrounded it, seeing the man he truly was.

It made him feel vulnerable. A feeling he hadn't experienced in centuries. Yet he couldn't bring himself to look away. Everyone else around them seemed to disappear as he fell into the depth of her eyes.

"I thought Sebastian would come too tonight." a voice interrupted the precious moment they just had shared and Caius was dragged back to reality rather harshly.

The voice belonged to the guy Sam had been talking to mere minutes ago. He now eyed them suspiciously through strands of his shaggy black hair.

A part of Caius wanted to strangle the boy for interrupting them but at the same time another part of him wanted to thank him for taking him back to reality where he could think clear again.

Sam turned her attention back towards the boy. "Yeah, thought so too. At least that's what he told me."

The boy nodded knowingly before glancing in Caius' direction. He then looked back to Sam and raised a brow in a questioning manner.

"What?"

The boy nodded his head towards Caius.

"Oh!" Sam exclaimed, "Max meet Caius. Caius that's Max. A friend from school."

"Nice meeting you mate." Max grinned at him. Caius just nodded. He didn't like being addressed in such a casual way at all and certainly not by a mortal.

"Who is Sbastian?" he enquired instead.

"A twat."

"My boyfriend" said Max and Sam simultaneously.

Upon hearing his comment Sam smacked Max on the back of his head "He's _not_ a twat."

Max leaned back bringing his head out of reach of her hand and rolled his eyes at her. "Oh please. Of course he is. This idiot stands you up almost every time. Like tonight. He promised to come but let's be serious, he won't show up. As usual. Why are you still going out with him anyway?"

Sam shot him a glare. "Because," she started and then fell silent. She apparently had nothing to hold against her friends accusations.

"Because... I don't know. He's just.. I like him. He can be really sweet at times you know?" she stuttered.

Max snorted in disbelief.

"Okay, maybe I'm an idiot for sticking with him but it's my decision." she said rather defensive.

"Hey, can I get a pint please?" someone shouted from the other end of the bar and Sam excused herself.

Max and Caius looked after her for a moment. Then Max muttered to him "Just to be clear, Sebastian is a total arsehole. No matter what she says. He just uses her and yet she sticks with him. She thinks she won't find anyone else if she breaks up with him."

For a moment Caius wondered why Max would tell this a total stranger. Then it came to his mind that he had witnessed the brief moment when he had been paralyzed by her look and now he was probably hoping that he would change Sam's mind about her boyfriend.

Humans could be so naive, Caius thought to himself. He would make her forget all about her boyfriend there was no question about that, however, if it really was what Max wanted for her, well...

He opened his mouth to say something to Max but before the words left his lips Sam returned and he fell silent.

"Last call guys." she announced, "Another round?"

"No, I'm good. Gotta go now anyway. I have to finish that blasted paper until tomorrow. Night Sam. Caius." He got up, stretched out his arms and turned to leave.

"Don't be late tomorrow morning or Johnson will kill you!" Sam called after him before turning to Caius again.

"Well, what about you? One last drink?"

"Only if you have one too."

"Can't. There are lots of others in here who I..." she looked around, "Oh. Apparently there aren't."

Now Caius turned his head too and had a look around the room. To his surprise it was almost empty. A handful of people were just getting up from their tables making their way to the door, wishing each other a good night.

He turned to face Sam again. "You are running out of excuses", he announced smugly.

She huffed in surrender. "All right. One drink." She held up her index finger, "But only one."

He smirked crookedly at her as she rolled her eyes at him and turned around to pour herself a drink.

While she stood there, her back facing him, Caius caught himself admiring the slim line of her neck, her short hair that graced it, the rosy flesh of her bare shoulder... How soft and warm it would feel when he placed his cold lips there... placing tender kisses up to her neck..

 _"What the hell are you thinking?!"_ he scolded himself.

With a swift move Sam turned back around and placed a glass full of liquid in front of her.

Caius wrinkled his nose. "What is _that_?"

"Whisky. And coke. Do you really think I'd drink that stuff straight?"

She raised her glass "Cheers."

Caius tipped his glass against hers and nodded before he took a sip.

"So, what is this with your boyfriend?" he asked after they both had put their glasses down.

"What do you mean?"

"It seems like your friend isn't very fond of him."

"Yeah, I know." she sighed, "But Max doesn't have to like him. He's not going out with him, is he?"

She took another sip of her drink, then added "I don't know what to make of it you know? I like Sebastian. I really do. But he is barely around. He always promises that he would spend more time with me but... he never does."

Her eyes glistened as she said this and she quickly took another sip. Her glass was already half empty.

"So you are unhappy." Caius stated.

Sam put down her glass. "I'm not." she said a bit too defensive.

"I'm not." she repeated as if to reassure herself "It's just... sometimes I ask myself if I'm not stupid for always giving in and stand back."

"Then why do you do it?" Caius asked in a soft voice. "Why do you put yourself through this when you deserve better?"

He leaned closer towards her.

"I-I don't know." she said in a quiet voice. "I like him. He can be very sweet if he wants to."

"But he always stands you up, Sam." Caius continued his voice still low and soft. "You could have someone better. Someone who cares about you."

"He does care about me" she tried to defend him but it suddenly didn't sound as certain as before.

"Then why isn't he here? He always makes promises to you yet he never keeps them."

Her eyes teared up. Clearly he had hit a sore spot. She seemed close to crying.

As he looked at her trying her best not to cry in front of him something tug at his dead heart like when he had seen her laughing with Max, wondering whether he was her boyfriend.

Again he wanted to ignore it. A hurt woman was at her weakest. Easy prey. And he was so close.

But he couldn't ignore it. However hard he tried to he just couldn't.

"Hey, don't cry. Please don't cry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." he whispered and was surprised how sincere this sounded.

A single tear rolled down her cheek and he instantly raised his hand and brushed it away with his thumb. "I'm sorry." he whispered again, "I didn't mean to.."

"It's okay." she sniffed, "I'm fine. That's just the booze and.. argh.. damn." she brought up her own thumb and drew it along her lower lid causing her mascara to smudge a bit.

When she looked back at him her eyes were still red but no longer wet. Her lips stretched into a shaky smile. She tried hard but it still seemed forced.

Nervously she pushed back her hair. "It's getting late. I-I should go home."

"Oh, uhm, yes. Of course." Caius pushed himself back from the counter. He had been leaning closer to her than he had realised.

As Sam nestled something behind the bar he pinched the bridge of his nose. What had that been? Had he really just tried to comfort her?

What the hell had gotten into him?

His thoughts were spinning again. When he had seen her teary eyes something had snapped inside him. Displaced the hunter in him. But what? This had never happened before.

Then, as his thoughts cleared up a bit, he realised something else.

The beast inside him had remained utterly silent until this point.

It was still there though. He could feel it's presence. Yet it did nothing.

How could this be?


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Chapter 6**

The moon illuminated the houses and streets of Volterra. The night was black and silent only occasionally interrupted by the soft sound of steps, murmured words or a muffled giggle as people returned to their homes and students headed out to celebrate Friday evening and two free days ahead.

In the shadows of an alleyway somewhere in the heart of the town leaned a dark figure against a house wall. His dark button down shirt and black trousers made him almost invisible in the shadows if it wasn't for his dark red eyes which seemed to glow in the dark.

His gaze was fixed on the neon sign of a pub across the alleyway he was standing in, his brows were furrowed. It made it hard to tell whether he was angry or pondering over some deep thoughts.

Maybe a bit of both.

Caius couldn't tell himself. A storm of emotions and memories raged inside his mind.

*Flashback*

 _"Where were you?" Athena demanded icily._

 _"None of your concern." Caius answered without looking up from the stack of papers he had delved himself into since he had returned from his latest encounter with Samantha, in a hopeless attempt to get the mortal girl out of his head._

 _It hadn't worked._

 _"I am your wife!" Athena hissed angrily, "I have a right to know!"_

 _Now he did look up from his papers, his eyebrows risen "Is that so? Well, then why don't you tell me in whose bed you have spent the last nights?"_

 _Athenodora pressed her perfect lips into a tight line._

 _"Did you honestly think I didn't know?" Caius continued._

 _"As if you were any better!" Athena spat at him "I know exactly where you were! And who you were with. And I know that this little brat is still alive! Why is that Caius? Until now at least you had the decency to get rid of your affairs. Why not her?"_

 _"For the same reason that your countless affairs still have their limbs attached to their bodies; Because I allow it!"_

 _Athena snorted in disbelief "How gracious of you. You might fool your brothers with that rubbish but not me. You like her. And you can't stop thinking about her. Even now that you look at me - your wife!"_

 _A devilish smile appeared on Caius face. "Do you fear for your position Athena?"_

 _"_ I _am your wife! Your queen. I've been by your side for over 2'000 years! And now this mortal thinks she can just step into our lives and steal you away from me!" she fumed._

 _"I will not have it. Just wait until I get hold of her! They won't be able to identify her once I'm done!"_

 _A growl erupted from Caius chest. In the blink of an eye he was on his feet. His hand grabbed Athena's throat and slammed her into the stone wall across the room._

 _"If you so much as lay a finger on her, I swear to god, I will rip you to pieces!"_

*End Flashback*

Caius sighed almost inaudible. Why had he done that? He might as well could have handed her a written confession about Samantha.

It was the stupidest thing he had done in his existence. But as always when it came to Sam he had acted on impulse.

Angrily he gritted his teeth. If he didn't get this under control it would get him into serious trouble one day.

The problem was that he had no idea how to get it under control. Every time he thought he had figured it out she did something totally unexpected and his control slipped away.

Like two nights ago when he had walked her home after he had made her cry at The Glory she had hugged him goodbye out of nowhere.

It seemed a natural gesture to her and he didn't doubt that she would hug Max goodbye in the same way.

But the sudden proximity, the warmth of her body and the smell of her blood all of a sudden closer than ever had him almost caused to lose his mind.

After she had gone inside he had gone back to the castle, heading straight for his study, praying that he wouldn't cross anybody's path.

Unfortunately he had stumbled over Aro who had apparently been waiting for him. He said something about him missing the feast and that there were a few tourists down in the dungeons for him.

Caius had just mumbled that he wasn't hungry while carefully avoiding to touch Aro. Then he had left his brother standing there in the corridor and had locked himself up in his study to sort out his thoughts.

That was until Athenodora had decided that it was a good time to play the jealous wife.

After their fight he had thrown her out of his office and strictly avoided every inhabitant of the castle.

He didn't go out to see Samantha the following night in an attempt to prove that he was no lovesick addict.

It had turned out to be a big mistake. Not a minute had passed when he hadn't asked himself what she was doing, if she was with her boyfriend now and whether she thought of him too.

What made it even worse was her scent which still lingered in his nose ever since she had hugged him.

It made his throat burn and his eyes turn pitch black.

Around midnight he had given in and gone down to the dungeons to feed. Afterwards at least the burning sensation in his throat had been gone. However, he had remained restless for the rest of the night and the majority of the day that followed.

As the sun sank behind the hills of the Tuscan landscape he had made up his mind. He had to see her again. The pain and the permanent worry about her were too much to take.

He longed to have her near him again.

That had been the point when the word "mate" had first occurred to him. He had thought about it for a moment and then dismissed the thought rather quickly.

This was absurd! Perhaps she was his singer but certainly not his mate. She was just a mortal for Christ sake.

But his reaction to Athena threatening her told a very different story. And he knew it. He knew it very well.

She was more than his singer.

Why else would he be standing out here starring at The Glory for hours?

The warm feeling of anticipation overcame him as he pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning against and started to make his way over to the pub.

The beast inside him purred with delight.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Chapter 7**

She wore a dress.

That was the first thing that he noticed.

The second one was that she looked drop dead gorgeous in it.

One look at her and he was a goner.

Also she wasn't behind the bar as usual but standing near the old jukebox surrounded by a group of friends. They all had something to drink in their hands and were laughing and talking to each other.

Sam was talking to a girl who was slightly shorter than her and whose cheeks already were pretty flushed, a sign that the drink in her hand wasn't the first one tonight.

Every now and then Sam's eyes flickered over the crowd as if she was looking out for someone.

The girl said something and Sam laughed. A throaty yet very cheerful sound. It suited her very well.

Then she saw him. She grinned sheepishly at him and waved him over to join them.

Her friend turned around to see who she had been waving at. When she saw Caius her eyes almost dropped out of her head.

"Who is that?" she hissed at Sam as he made his way through the crowd and over to them.

"A friend. And stop starring at him like that."

"A 'friend' huh? And just why haven't you mentioned this friend before?"

"I have. He walked me home, remember?"

"He is strange-but-nice-guy?"

"Yes. And for heaven's sake don't call him that." she whispered quickly before turning to face Caius "Hi."

"You are not working tonight." he simply stated.

"I'm not."

"Well, of course she isn't." her friend chipped in "It's her birthday."

Caius' eyebrow rose. "It is?"

She bit her lip sheepishly and blushed a tiny bit. The slight touch of red suited her face exquisitely.

"Yes, it is. And it's not that big of a deal." she said into her friends direction before turning back to Caius.

"Caius, this is my friend Leila. Please don't mind her. She has a bit of a quick tongue."

"Calumny! I don't have a quick tongue. I simply..."

"Leila, why don't you come over here for a second? I want you to meet someone." Max appeared out of nowhere, putting his arm around Leila's shoulder leading her away with soft force.

"Sorry about that. She's already pretty drunk."

Caius grinned a crocked smile. "And you are not?"

"Nope."

He tilted his head slightly as if to indicate that there had to be more to this.

Sam nodded in surrender. "I'm waiting for someone."

"So he will actually come tonight?"

"He promised faithfully. He'll be here until midnight."

"Not very long until then."

"He will be here." she demonstratively took a sip from her drink.

Caius didn't believe a word she said but he kept quiet about it. It was only 10 minutes until midnight.

Besides before he could say anything at all another friend of hers showed up, putting her arm around her shoulder and asking happily: "Hey Sam, Happy Birthday. Where's Sebastian? I haven't seen him yet."

Samantha kept smiling but Caius could see the resentment in her eyes.

* * *

Outside the clock tower announced midnight. People cheered over the loud sound of music. The light was dimmed, and someone brought out a cake with flickering candles. The crowd started to sing Happy Birthday. Sam stood there in the middle of the crowd and smiled bravely.

This should have been one of the happiest moments of her life but although Caius hadn't known her for very long, knew her well enough to see that behind this mask of joy she felt like crying.

For the past 10 minutes people had been asking her none stop about her boyfriend and when he would show up.

He hadn't.

Not until now and to Caius it seemed obvious that he wouldn't at all tonight.

Samantha blew out the candles and the crowd cheered even louder.

In the dim light he could see her eyes glistening as Dexy's Midnight Runners _Come on Eileen_ started to play.

It was one of Sam's favourites. It was among the things she'd told him the first night he had walked her home.

Now she was really close to crying.

Before Caius could think twice he already moved through the crowd and towards her.

He grabbed her hand. "Can I have this dance?"

Sam's face showed an expression of utter surprise but Caius was already tugging her towards the small dance floor.

He hadn't been dancing in quite some time and certainly not to music like this but as it turned out Sam was quite a good dancer herself. As soon as she had gotten over the initiate shock of being dragged to the dance floor she took the lead.

Halfway into the dance the tears were forgotten and she started to smile. It lit up her face like the sun lit up the world in the morning.

Bright and glorious.

He couldn't help but smiling back.

* * *

"Thank you." Sam smiled in the dim light of a street light. It was way part midnight as they made their way home, "You really saved my evening with that."

"It was my pleasure." Caius smiled back. "And I'm sorry that he didn't show."

"Don't remind me. I can't wait to hear his excuse for this."

"Will you forgive him?"

"I don't know. I..."

A loud noise in an alleyway to their right caught their attention.

"What was that?"

"I don't know. Perhaps a cat?" Caius shrugged. Truth was he knew exactly what it was.

His vampire eyes cut through the darkness and let him see crystal clear.

There were two people. A male and a female. And they obviously didn't want to be interrupted.

But Sam's curiosity was piqued. "I just want to have a look."

"Samantha I don't think..." in that moment the pair stepped out of the shadows.

They were engaged in a heated kiss while walking backwards until the girl's back met the wall.

The boy pressed his body against hers as they continued to make out apparently absolutely unaware that they were watched.

That was until a voice cut through the sound of their kissing.

"Seb?"

The boy moved away from the girl as if she had given him an electric shock.

"Sam!" he said taken aback by shock and surprise, "What... what are you doing here?"

Sam's body had gone rigid and her voice was dangerously calm as she spoke, "THIS is why you stood me up?"

"This.. what? No! No Sam this is not ..."

"It's my birthday and you stand me up to snog this bitch?"

"Oh come on Sam! It hasn't been going good between us for weeks. Maybe if you hadn't been that uptight playing the virtuous little virgin this wouldn't have happened!"

For a few seconds that felt like hours Sam said nothing. Then she turned on her heels and walked away. Past Caius and into the night.

Sebastian rolled his eyes: "Always such a drama queen."

The girl behind him giggled about his comment.

Caius was close to losing it and ripping that guys throat out. He wanted to see him suffer and bleed and he wanted to be the one responsible for it.

But the image of Samantha walking past him with tears streaming down her face pushed everything else in the background.

And so he turned around too and followed her scent to find her, but not before making a mental note to make sure that Sebastian met a punishment that fit his crime.

He found her on the steps under the clock tower by the fountain. She was sitting there on the cold stone shivering in the cold wind.

Her face was red and wet streams of black graced her cheeks.

Seeing her like this made Caius' heart drop.

He felt like he should say something but there was a big lump in his throat and he had no idea what he should say that would make her feel better.

Eventually he just walked up to her and sat next to her on the cold floor.

At first they just sat there while Sam silently cried.

Finally, after endless minutes Caius asked: "Is it true? What he said?"

Sam nodded.

Again Caius didn't know what to say to that. The things that Sebastian had thrown at her head were so private and intimate it made him uncomfortable to talk to her about it.

It would have been different if this was Athena he was talking to or Aro or Marcus. But he had only known Samantha for a few days. Basically he knew nothing about her life.

"I wanted to wait." Sam said quietly, interrupting Caius' thoughts, "It didn't feel right so I told him I wanted to wait. I'm such an idiot."

"Don't say that." Caius snapped harsher than he intended to, "You are not an idiot." he continued in a softer voice.

He put an arm around her shivering shoulders and pulled her closer to him as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"You are not an idiot. Nowadays there are so many girls who give away their innocence to a stranger without a second thought. Believe me, I know it.

And every girl who does this has every right to call herself an idiot. But you know that this is something special and it shouldn't be wasted on someone you don't know the first thing about.

You are a strong young woman who knows what she is worth."

 _And I wish I would have met you 2'000 years ago._

"Thank you." she murmured, "Do you mind sitting here for a little longer? This feels kinda good."

"As long as you want."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Hello to my lovely readers, who bear with me even though I don't update very regularly.**  
 **A new chapter is coming your way and the next one is already in progress.**  
 **I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Love prettystories xx**

 **Chapter 7**

Caius stormed past the reception in the entrance hall, scaring the poor girl behind the counter to death.

She immediately ducked behind her computer, letting out a tiny whimper.

His head snapped around and he growled at her in disgust before entering the lift.

As the door closed behind him he relaxed slightly in perspective of what he was about to do. Who he was about to see.

He hadn't seen Sam in a few days.

That night, when they had sat on the stairs, after she had dried her tears, he had held her in his arms for a little while until she had asked him to bring her home.

He hadn't taken his arms away from her shoulder while they had walked through the dark, empty streets, while she had held on to him, her head leaned against his shoulder.

It might have been the alcohol or because she had been tired but he hadn't cared. It had felt good nonetheless.

When they had arrived at her flat it had turned out that she indeed had been a bit tipsy so he had losened her surprisingly tight grip from the stair case, picked her up bridal style and carried her up to her flat and to her bed, where he tucked her in.

"Thank you." she had mumbled sleepily, "You know, I thought this was the worst birthday in the history of birthdays. But it wasn't that bad. Not all of it."

A tiny smile tug at the corner of Caius' mouth and he felt a warm sensation inside his chest.

"Get some rest... Angel."

Why had he said that? He couldn't tell. It had just slipped his mouth before he could have stoped himself.

Perhaps she hadn't heard it.

But judging by the smile on her face as she drifted into sleep there had been no doubt that she had.

Caius had resisted the urge to stand there next to her bed and watch her sleep all night although it took him a lot not to.

Instead he had left the flat, closed the door quietly and returned to the castle.

He hadn't seen her since. Not that he hadn't want to. Not at all. In fact he had longed so see her again. To feel the warmth of her skin again when she leaned close. Smell the faint scent of roses again which clung to her.

But he couldn't bring himself to go out.

He had tried to convince himself that it was because she had just broken up with her boyfriend. That she probably needed space and the last thing she wanted was him trying to hook up with her.

But that hadn't been it.

Truth was that he had been scared.

Scared of her reaction towards him. That she wouldn't want to see him or that he would say the wrong thing when they met.

Generally just that things wouldn't be as they had been after that night.

He had been particularly moody those past days. Torn between longing to see her again and not wanting to face her.

"You miss her.", Marcus had stated matter of factly this morning. Unfortunately while Aro had been standing next to him.

"Missing who?" he had asked immediately and Caius chest had tightened uncomfortably.

In all this time he had carefully avoided mentioning Sam towards Aro. His brother could be very bullheaded when it came to things like this.

He would have sent out some of the guard to get to know everything there was to know about her and ultimately let them bring her here so she and Caius could _"form a relationship"._

No, it was better this way. If there was one thing Caius knew for sure it was that he would never drag Sam into this world. Never ever.

She would never see the darkness and the abysse of his world. And she would never know how poisonous and black his soul was. Never let her see the monster he was.

 _"I would lose her forever if she'd find out."_

What had followed had been a huge discussion about who the misterious girl, Caius had never mentioned before, was and why he hadn't mentioned her and why he hadn't brought her here yet.

Marcus, who obviously felt terribly sorry for his mistake, tried to limit the damage to a minimum by telling Aro that it was actually none of his business, who Sam was.

But Aro had ignored him and started to ask Caius questions and offering well meant help to get Caius to know Sam better.

He seemed very excited over the idea of playing Amor for his younger brother.

Caius wasn't though.

It all ended by Caius barking at Aro, "You will stay away from her Aro! Have I made myself clear?" before storming out of the room.

By the time he passed the throne room he had made up his mind where he was heading.

A bright bing sounded through the small cabin of the lift announcing that Caius had reached the top floor.

He stepped out of the metal box and walked down a narrow, dark corridor, which ended at a wooden door that leaded into the church above the Volturi castle.

He prefered this route way over the one through the shut down sewerage, the guards used.

He carefully stepped through a side door of the church and looked up.

Thankfully it was past twilight and the sun was already down because in all the rush he had forgotten to bring a cloak or a hood with him and he would have hated to turn around to get one, with the perspective of running into his brothers.

Slowly he made his way through the alleyways of Volterra towards Sam's flat - it was too early for her being at work yet - while thinking about what he should say to her once she was standing in front of him.

Although he walked at an almost annoyingly slow pace he reached the house far too fast for his taste and with no idea whatsoever what to say.

And then it was too late. Because just as he reached the house the door opened and Sam stepped out.

She wore black skinny jeans and a plain grey tank top. Her short hair was tousled as if she had just come out of bed.

"Hi", she said with a little smile as she spotted him.

Caius found himself out of words. "Hi", he responded after what seemed like eternity to him. And then, as usually when he was around Sam, he just said the first words that came to his mind.

"I wanted to see you."

He could have slapped himself for saying that although it was true. But speaking it out loud still made it sound utterly stupid.

But Sam didn't seem to mind. She smiled at him with that sweet little smile he had last seen when he had tucked her in the night of her birthday.

"That's sweet. Sounds like a line from one of those horrid romantic novels my friend reads, but it's sweet."

Caius couldn't help but smile back at her. The remark was just so typically Sam it made him forget how stupid he had just felt.

"How are you?" he asked instantly hoping he didn't sound insensitive given that she had caught her boyfriend cheating on her mere days ago.

In the far back of his mind a growling voice asked why he acted like a little boy, pondering over everything he said.

He ignored it. Truth was that he didn't know why himself. There was just something about Sam that made him cautious. He didn't want to hurt or upset her in any way, afraid that she would send him away.

"Good. A bit tired to be honest. But I feel better now that..." she hesitated for a second, "now that I know."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault anyway."

The silence that fell over them after that felt awkward and Caius decided to change the topic.

"So, where are you heading? To work?"

She snorted. "No?"

Caius raised his eyebrows in surprise and Sam furrowed her forehead.

"Don't you know what day it is?"

"Thursday?" Caius asked not sounding too sure about it.

"It's St. Marcus day, silly. And thursday, yes." Sam laughed, "I was heading to see my friends and securing a good spot to see the fireworks tonight."

She held up a bright red cape with a hood he hadn't noticed she had been holding.

"Fireworks?" he repeated.

"Yeah, fireworks. You know sparkling stuff in the sky that blows up? Have you never seen fireworks before?"

"Of course I have."

"You're a horrible liar." That wasn't exactly true. Actually he was an excellent liar. But as it seemed not around Sam though. Unfortunately.

"You could show me." he quickly suggested before she could ask why he had never seen fireworks before.

"Show you what?"

"The fireworks. I know a spot from where you have an excellent view over the whole city. I'll show you if you watch the fireworks with me."

"Just... you and me? You mean like... like a date?" her smile disappeared and Caius' heart dropped. He had been to straight forward and now it was ruined.

She said nothing for a while, just looking at him.

Then finally, "Yeah. Yeah, okay. Let's do it that way. Just the two of us."


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Chapter 9  
**

Caius led Sam through the narrow alleyways of Volterra towards the spot he had promised to show her.

"And that is why people wear red capes with hoods on St. Marcus." Sam said matter-of-factly.

Caius cast her a disbelieving look sideways.

"You made that up."

"Yes."

"And there you are saying I am a bad liar."

"Okay Mr I'm-a-local, tell me why people wear those things on St. Marcus day then."

"It symbolizes the blood shed, which ended the day Saint Marcus liberated the city from the vampires, who slaughtered half of the inhabitants."

"This really is the reason, isn't it?" she looked at him with a serious face, "You know, that's what I like so much about this city. It has a story to tell."

"You like stories?" he asked as he led her up a staircase.

"I like old stories. Myths, legends, that kind of things. Walking through a village like Volterra while listening to those stories, that's like dreaming with your eyes wide open."

"You must have an excellent imagination then. Picturing all those things in your mind."

She smiled "My mind is a scary place."

 _"If only I could see into it to see things the way you see them."_ he thought to himself aloud he just said "We are here."

They had reached the end of an alleyway. At first it seemed like a dead end with a wall at the end. But once one got closer you noticed that the wall really was only waist-high. On the other side was nothing but the roofs of the houses below this area.

When you looked up you could see over half of Volterra. A perfect view of the ancient city and the tuscany landscape beyond the city walls.

"Wow.", Sam whispered, "This is amazing."

"I sometimes come here to have some peace and think. It's very quiet here. People climb the stairs, see the dead end and turn to leave again."

"Sometimes it's worth to have a closer look at things..." she murmured a bit absent mindedly, "Thanks for showing me."

"Thank you for coming with me."

"So the fireworks starts in one hour..."

"One hour? You wanted to meet with your friends one hour before it starts?"

"Hey, it's hard to find a good spot to watch it."

"And what were you going to do with the remaining time?"

"We would've talked to each other."

"Talked?"

"Yes, talked. And since there are only the two of us you get the pleasure of talking to me for the next 60 minutes." Sam grinned.

"I could think of worse." Caius said and she blushed instantly.

He couldn't help but stare at her.

Her cheeks brightened slightly in a very soft rosé, which made her look even prettier and the sweet scent of her blood became more prominent.

It smelt heavenly. Like nothing he had ever smelt and he found himself wondering what her blood would taste like if he would...

The beast inside him, normally calmed by Sam's presence, started to growl wildly and urged him to go ahead.

 _"It's perfect. No witnesses. No one knows she's with you."_

He hadn't fed recently and now he cursed himself for it. How could he have been so careless? His eyes must have been pitch black by now.

In an attempt to surpess the growl that threatened to escape his mouth he clenched his fists tightly.

His view started to blurr at the edges.

"Caius?" a soft warm touch snapped him out of his state. He looked down. Sam had put her delicate hand on his lower arm where he had rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and his marble skin was exposed.

"Caius, are you okay? You seem a bit... sick."

He looked up again. Her eyes showed real concern and worry.

 _"She really cares."_ he thought to himself.

"Yes. Yeah, I am fine. Just a bit dizzy." he choked out. Her warm touch and the worry in her eyes made the beast calm down and his view became clear again.

"Do you want to sit down a bit?" she offered.

"Yes. I think that would be best." he focused on talking to her instead of the scent of her blood.

She helped him to sit down, his back against one of the walls of the alleyway and then sat next to him.

"Feeling bit better now?"

He simply nodded.

"Good. You really scared me there. I thought you might have a spell or something."

"I guess I just didn't... drink enough today."

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry I don't have any water with me..."

"Never mind. I already feel better. What I wanted to ask you, won't your friends worry where you are?"

A part of him prayed that she had told them who she was with just so he could give the beast inside him a reason to bring her home in one piece.

"No, I told them I couldn't make it cause of some uni stuff that came up last minute."

Damn it!

"So they don't know you are with me?"

"No. But it's better that way. I haven't really talked to them in the past days. They wanted to know what happened the night of my birthday and I haven't really felt like telling them. Actually I still don't."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Some things that happened were just..."

"Too horrible?" he felt a sting in his chest.

"Private. They're too private."

He looked at her rather surprised. She smiled at him and he couldn't help but smiling back. She looked so beautiful sitting there in the fading daylight.

He hadn't noticed how quickly night had fallen. Suddenly a loud noise sounded through the silence of the night.

Sam shot up. "It's starting.", she beamed at him and took his hand to help him up.

"C'mon or you'll miss it."

She dragged him to his feet and to the end of the alleyway, where the first colourful sparks exploded in the black-blue sky.

The moment Caius' eyes met the first spark of this strange human invention he could fully comprehend Sam's excitement.

The patterns of blue, green, red, blue and golden sparks that painted the dark sky brought an atmosphere of pure magic to the formerly so silent sky.

Never in his 2'000 years had he witnessed something so beautiful and he stood there in absolute awe, his dark-red eyes mirroring the sparks while his marble white skin seemed to glow in the dark.

He was so absorbed he didn't even notice that Sam, who was standing next to him, had let go of his hand and instead had gotten hold of his arm while she rested her head against his shoulder.

"I wonder if this is as close to magic as humanity ever gets", Sam whispered after the last spark had disappeared and the night had become silent again.

Caius smiled at the thought she had just voiced.  
"Maybe your mind isn't as scary a place as you think it is", he said softly.

Sam smiled dreamily but didn't say anything to that.

It was only then that Caius noticed her head against his shoulder. She was still looking at the now dark sky with a content smile on her face.

In the silver light of the rising moon the skin of her face almost resembled the paleness of his own. Instantly he raised his hand, touching her cheek with his fingertips to make sure it hadn't become stonehard and cold.

But it was still warm, still soft like it should be.

Sam raised her head from his shoulder and looked at him. Realising what he had been doing there Caius wanted to draw back his hand but the look in Sam's eyes stopped him.

She didn't mind him touching her but seemed to enjoy it instead.

Slowly he leaned a bit closer to her, expecting her to draw back but she didn't.

Instead she remained just where she was.

He leaned in a bit more and her eyelids fluttered almost shut, as did his.

He was so close to her now. Closer than he had ever been. He could feel her warm breath on his skin. There was that faint smell of roses again.

A bit closer.

He could see her lips through his half-shut eyes, rosy and soft.  
There was nothing he wanted more than kissing her.

Just a tiny bit closer...

A dark shadow jumped on the wall before them and made a loud and almost reproachful noise.

Startled Sam jumped back, surpressing a shriek and letting go of Caius arm.

Caius head snapped around to face the intruder, half-expecting to see one of the guards who had been sent by Aro to find Sam.

But it was only a cat starring back at him with gleeming eyes.

He silently cursed the animal for interrupting them and turned his head back to Sam.

She stood a few metres away from him, her fingers awkwardly playing with each other. She bit her lip. Her gaze fell to the floor.

"It's erm... it's getting a bit late." she murmured sheepishly.

"Errm.. yes... We should... I'm.. I'm going to bring you home." he offered feeling just as uncomfortable as she did.

Stupid cat! Why did it have to interrupt them. He had been so close.

"Yes." Sam agreed seemingly relieved that he had suggested it an not herself.

He walked past her, down the dark alleyway and she followed him.

"Careful, the steps may be a bit slippery," he said quietly when they reached the stairs and offered her his hand. She gladly took it and followed him down the steps.

They had almost reached the end of the stairs when suddenly Sam's foot slipped over the edge of the worn-out stone steps. She made a startled noise as she lost her balance and fell forward.

Caius reacted instantly, letting go of her hand and to catch her in his arms. For a brief moment he saw the panic in her eyes as she fell.

Then he had her.

Her delicate arms wrapped around his shoulders as he caught her around her waist, steadying them both.

Her brown-green eyes were just inches from his and their nose-tips touched. She was as close to him as she had been mere minutes ago in the alleyway, a startled expression on her pretty face, her lips slightly parted in shock.

Caius hesitated for a short moment. And then he leaned forward and kissed her.

It took Sam the blink of an eye to realise what was happening there. Then she wrapped one of her lanky arms around his neck, putting her other hand to the side of his head and pulled him closer, kissing him back eagerly.

It felt like she had been waiting for him to do this all this time.

Caius felt in heaven. A warm, prickling sensation filled his stomache and his chest as her soft, warm lips moved against his.

He tightened his grip around her fragile body slightly, careful not to hurt her yet trying to pull her as close to him as possible.

Every thought had left his mind. All he knew was that he was kissing this beautiful, wonderful girl and that it felt like everything he had ever wanted in his existence and that she kissed him back.

Suddenly a roll of thunder cut through the night followed by the first heavy raindrops, that quickly turned into a downpour.

Sam smiled into the kiss and soon the smile turned into a soft giggle.

"We should take shelter somewhere," she grinned between two kisses.

He laughed huskily and kissed her one last time before letting go of her waist and taking her hand instead, "Yes, I think we should."

Quickly they jumped down the last few steps and then run to an eaves nearby. They were wet all over but laughing like little kids when they arrived there.

"Sorry about that," Caius started but Sam just waved it off.

"Oh, who cares about that? It's just water.", she put her arms back around his neck an pulled him towards her once again, "Come here. I don't want this to end so quickly just cause of a little rain."

He smiled brightly at her before leaning in again. Her cheeks were flushed again and he could smell the adrenaline in her blood.

The smell made the area around his loins tense and he closed the distance between them quickly and kissed her hungrily, pressing her back against the stone wall behind her.

Her fingers snaked through his hair as the kiss grew more heated.

He groaned with pleasure as their bodies pressed against each other.

"Well, well Caius. What would Athenodora say to this?" a snotty voice sounded out of the dark next to them, interrupting them once again.

Caius' head snapped back as if Sam had given him an electric shock.

Sam looked at him with a startled expression: "What...?"

"To be fair, she does smell delicious." the voice continued. It had a strong eastern european sound to it.

With one swift move Caius moved himself between Sam and the voice, shielding her with his body, while growling lowly towards the darkness.

Sam tried to peek around his back. "Caius what are you doing? Who is this?"

Caius didn't answer but kept starring into the dark, every muscle in his body tense.

A dark figure moved out of the shadows of the houses next to them, stepping into the moonlight.

It was a man. Pale, muscular yet quite a bit shorter than Caius, who was rather tall. His platin blonde hair glistened in the silver light of the moon. The rain, which had turned into a soft drizzle now, itensified the effect.

"Vladimir. How dare you entering the city?" Caius spat at the man but he just smiled tautingly, revealing rows of pearl white teeth.

"We were in the area and were curious... how you were doing. I thought, however, that hunting inside the city walls was forbidden by the law."

Caius ignored the hinted accusation. Instead he focused on what Vladimir had just said. _We._ That meant there were more of them. But where...

"Hey! Ow!"

He shot around. Sam was no longer standing behind him but several feet away from him in the drizzling rain.

A second man with dark brown hair and a hooked nose held her fragile body in a tight grip.

She struggled against him and tried to free herself but the man only tightened his grip further causing her to whimper with pain.

Caius knew that if he applied a little more pressure her bones would start to snap like twigs.

Tears of desperation and pain glistened in her eyes.

The man leaned close to her and burried his nose in her hair. "Hmmm... she does smell delicious. How can you stand it Caius?"

She turned her head away in disgust and Caius twichted, moving towards her.

"Ah ah ah," the man warned and Caius stopped dead in his tracks, "You stay where you are or I will snap her neck."

"Caius what the hell is going on here? Who are they? What is he talking about?" Sam's voice was shaky.

Caius opened his mouth indecisive what he should tell her.

Vladimir noticed his hesitation. His gaze went from Caius to Sam and back to Caius again. Then a devilish smile crept on his face.

"Now isn't this cute Stefan? The poor girl apparently has no idea who he is."

The man who held Sam - Stefan - snickered humourless "Well then, let me enlighten you, sweetheart. He is the devil. A cold-blooded murder."

"What?"

"He is a vampire." Stefan whispered into her ear, "And not just some vampire. He is the most sadistic, cruelest vampire that has ever walked this earth. And every now and then he enjoys going out and seducing a young woman, having his way with her and then suck her dry."

The tears were now running down her face. She pressed her lips together into a tight line, "I don't believe that."

"Is that so? Well, then why don't we put my words to the test?", he bent Sam's head to the side exposing her neck. Caius could see the blood pulsating beneath the soft skin.

"What do you think Caius? Just a little taste," he said baring his razor sharp teeth.

"No!" Caius moved forward the second Stefan sunk his fangs in Sam's throat. The girl screamed but the sound was muffled by the hand Stefan had already put over her mouth.

Caius was stopped in his movement abruptly by Vladimir who held him back.

"Smell that Caius? Doesn't it smell mouth-watering?"

He pushed Vladimir away and turned back to Stefan. But the vampire had already let go of Sam.

His mouth was smeared with blood. The same blood that was pourring out of the wound on Sam's throat.

Stefan laughed huskily. Then he let go of Sam and pushed her forward, "Why don't you taste it yourself?"

Caius watched in horror how Sam stumbled a few feet forward before she fell to the ground landing on all fours. Her whole body was shaking.

The smell of her blood filled the air around them. He wanted to take his eyes from the blood spilling wound at her throat but he couldn't.

The scarlet liquid pulsated out of the wound almost like a fountain. It flowed down her neck and stained her top and the ground she was now kneeling on.

He felt the burning in his throat becoming more prominent.

His eyes turned pitch black.

"We should leave them alone for their little moment, don't you think Stefan?" Vladimir said in a sneering voice behind Caius.

Stefan licked his lips, "We should."

A moment later only their snickering could be heard through the darkness of the night.

But Caius didn't notice that they were gone. He also didn't notice that it had stopped raining.

All he saw and smelt was Sam's blood only feet away from him.

His mouth filled with venom and the smell made his head delirious. He couldn't think straight anymore.

His fist clenched.

 _"No!"_ he thought to himself, _"You can't! You mustn't! Fight it! You'll lose her. You'll lose her forever and it will be your fault!"_

"Caius?", her voice shaked almost as much as her body. He had never heard her talking like this. So vulnerable.

The sound of her voice helped to clear up his head a bit. Not much but just enough to force himself to think of something else.

The smile she had flashed him the day they had met.

How they had danced to her favourite song the night of her birthday.

The feeling of her warm, soft lips melting against his. The feeling of her warm body in his arms.

He focused on that. And that, if he killed her tonight, he would never again having the possibility to do any of those things.

He held his breath so he would not be tempted by the smell of her blood and carefully approached her.

Her arms had given in and she was now lying on the ground, the blood staining the pavement beneath her.

Her already pale skin was paperwhite, her eyelids half closed.

She would lose consciousness soon due to the enormous loss of blood.

"Shhh it's all right," Caius tried to sooth her although it wasn't. Not at all.

"Look at me. Look at me Angel," he took her face in his hands. She was slowly getting colder.

"Look at me. Everything is going to be okay. I will get you out of here. I promise Angel. I promise. Just please stay with me."


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Chapter 10  
**

She remembered the men. Pale as Caius was. Their touch equally as cold.

And the pain. Short and stinging. Followed by blood. Blood everywhere.

Then she remembered the darkness. A heavy and profound black. The kind of darkness your eyes never adjust to.

Her consciousness had shut her body down to prevent it from further pain. When you're on the edge of life and death that's just what your body did.

She had read that somewhere, sometime. It seemed ages ago.

Was this dying?, she thought. It was so easy. A lot more peaceful than she had ever imagined.

 _"No. You're thinking. Your brain is working. You're not dying."_

Now this was odd. After all the pain and the blood she had been sure she was on the verge of death.

She looked around herself.

Nothing.

The darkness hadn't lightened up one bit.

Yet, she was now pretty sure that she wasn't dying. At least not anymore. Something held her on this side.

She had always prefered to refer to _the other side_ rather than to _heaven and hell_ when she had been talking about the life after death.

Heaven and Hell, good or bad. She had never liked the thought of someone judging her every move just to decide whether she deserved a good life after death or, well, hell.

 _"For a 19 year old girl I think about death exceptionally often",_ she thought to herself. Then, _"Arrgh what the hell am I thinking? Focus Sam. Focus!"_

So she did. She focused on the only thing there was. The sound of her own thoughts.

And then she felt something.

 _"My legs! I can feel my legs! Good girl. Now keep going."_

After her legs her upper body followed. Then her arms and finally her hands and fingers.

Unsurprisingly her body felt very limp.

 _"Well, what to expect? I almost died."_

What surprised her though was that she didn't feel cold. Or wet. And the concrete floor felt pretty soft too.

Way too soft to be honest.

 _"Okay there's no way that I'm still lying on a street somewhere in Volterra. This is too comfortable. But where am I? Am I at home? No, doesn't feel like my bed. Oh c'mon Sam. Open your eyes."_

She focused again. This was harder than she had thought. Suddenly her head started to hurt. Her neck followed suit.

She groaned in discomfort.

Then her eyes cracked open and she blinked against bright daylight.

The first thing she noticed was that the soft thing she was lying on was indeed a bed. A pretty large one at that.

She sat up slowly.

The second thing she saw was a shock of platin blond hair, that framed a beautiful, pale face.

Caius.

He looked at her with a worried expression on his face.

A picture formed in her head.

Caius, his hair wet from the drizzling rain, his eyes pitch black, a wild, almost feral look in them as he starred at the blood pourring from a wound at her throat.

Sam's body went rigid. She didn't breath or blink. Suddenly she felt very vulnerable and exposed. Like a deer on a wide field.

Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run.

"How do you feel?" he asked softly.

While he spoke he raised a hand as if to touch her.

With a jolt her body came back to life and she scrambled away from him.

His hand froze mid-air and a hurt expression briefly crossed his face before it went back to the worried expression from before.

Sam pulled her legs up towards her body. She wanted to be as far away from him as possible until she could be sure he wouldn't harm her.

Then she gathered her nerves to give him an answer that wouldn't give away how scared she felt at the moment.

But when she opened her mouth to form the words a stinging pain went through her throat. One hand flew to her neck, where the pain seemed to come from and she was surprised to feel the soft fabric of a gauze pad someone had put there instead of her skin.

"Are you in pain?" Caius' voice was still soft.

Her eyes sought his and she nodded slowly. Even that little movement hurt.

"It will hurt for a few more hours before it starts to get better."

 _"A few hours?"_ she wanted to ask but all she could produce was a hoarse sound before her hands, both this time, flew to her throat and her face twisted in pain.

"And before you will be able to speak again." he added, his brows furrowed.

 _"Oh how convenient. I can't even scream should he attack me."_ she thought to herself sarcastically.

"Samantha I am so sorry." his voice was only a whisper now and the sound of it made Sam relax a bit. He genuinly sounded sorry.

"Please believe me, I've never wanted you to get hurt. I never wanted you to..." he hesitated a short moment before finishing "...to... to find out about me like this."

 _"That's not what you really wanted to say..."_ she thought. However, the sound of his voice, the expression on his face and his whole posture calmed her down. It didn't seem like he wanted to attack her.

In fact, he seemed almost like the Caius she had gotten to know the night of her birthday. Nice. And caring.

Hesitantly she decided to trust him. For now. So she raised her hands and gestured for something to write.

"Oh. Yes, of course." There was a cool breeze and Caius was gone and back within the blink of an eye almost as if he hadn't moved at all.

He handed her a leather-bound notebook and an expensive looking, scarlett pen.

Sam eyed the pen carefully.

 _"This is the fanciest thing I have ever written with"_ she marveled before opening the notebook ans scribbling down something, using her hand to shield it from Caius' view.

When she was done she looked down at it and bit her lip. A small part told her not to show it to him. But she was so curious of his reaction she decided to ignore it and raised the notebook to his view.

There was a single word written across the first page.

 _VAMPIRE_

Sam watched Caius' face carefully while she held up the notebook.

It went from shock with a tad of surprise to something she couldn't quite define and before she could ponder about it, it was gone again replaced by his usual poker face.

When he spoke his voice was even, yet a hint of surprise still swung in it: "How do you know?"

She wrote something down and showed it to him.

 _I'm not an idiot._

"I know that you're not." he smiled a crocked smile, "So how did you find out?"

 _You're not eve denying it?_

She looked at him surprised.

"You're not an idiot." The tone of surprise had left his voice and had been replaced by something else.

Affection? Maybe.

At any rate he still smiled at her in a way she definetely would have described as affectionate. Perhaps not everything had been a lie after all.

 _You moved too quickly when you got me this._ _Also your eyes. They change colour. And your touch is just as cold as the guy's who did this._

She pointed at the gauze pad at her neck.

"I didn't think you would notice my eyes." he said quietly after a while.

 _I notice a lot more than people know._

He didn't say anything to that so she continued writing.

 _Where am I?_

"You're at... my place." and when she raised her eyebrows questioningly he added, "At the castle. Those are my chambers."

 _Chambers? You mean your bedroom?_

"Well, yes, that is a part of it."

She still didn't seem to understand. Frowning she starred down at the blank page of the notebook and thought about what to ask first.

But when she finally put the pen down a cold, marble hand stoped her. Startled she looked up. Caius had put his hand over hers to stop her motion.

He hadn't been this close since the attack and although she had decided to trust him the proximity scared her and the coldth of his skin reminded her with a jolt of what he was.

Her body froze. Caius noticed. For the blink of a second the hurt expression returned and he removed his hand from hers.

"Your voice should be restored in a few hours. Then we can talk. You should rest a bit more." he said in a quiet voice. It sounded final.

Slowly Sam nodded in agreement.

He was buying himself more time, and she knew it.

 **Hello my lovely readers**

 **Sorry for the long wait. I took a break over summer and then took some extra time to make this chapter as good as possible.**

 **I hope you like it!**

 **Love X**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Hello to my lovely readers  
Thank you for being so incredibly patient. I have finally finished the next chapter. I know it has taken me ages to do so and I'm sorry.  
Unfortunately I had a bit of a writer's block. I knew where I wanted to go with this story but not how to get there. I hope, now that I have finished this chapter, it will all get a bit easier.  
It would mean the world to me if you could let me know what you think so far and where you think this is going.  
So, here you go! The next chapter! Enjoy!  
Love you all Xx**

 **Chapter 11**

Caius paced anxiously in his study. He had tried to distract himself in some work but he just couldn't sit still. This whole situation was making him feel extremely uneasy.

The girl he cared about had been injured and now lied sleeping in his chambers and he knew for sure she would demand some answers when she woke up again.

All the while his wife was somewhere out in the castle, certainly very well aware that the mortal he had been seeing for the past weeks was now closer than ever to get her hands on.

And to top it all off Aro was more than giddy with excitement to finally meet that one special girl.

He let himself fall back in his chair, groaned in frustration and covered his face with his hands.

„ _Christ, what am I going to do about this?"_

There was no way he would ever get out of this without telling Sam the truth and thus signing her death sentence.

Of course there was still the option of changing her but that was dying too in some way so no difference there.

With a sigh he brushed his fair hair out of his face.

„ _All right, focus! One problem after another. What will be the first thing she'll want once she wakes up?"_

Getting to know where she was of course. Well, he could tell her that. There was no way around it anyway.

But what else.

He closed his eyes.

„ _She'll want to go home."_ he thought with hanging shoulders.

God, this was the worst. Just how should he tell her that she couldn't go home? Not ever.

There seemed to be no way out of this. No matter how he turned it in the end he would scare her away.

And who could blame her? Why would she want anything to do with the man who took everything she had from her? Her freedom, her family and friends and – at some point which was certain to come – her life.

He let his hands sink but his eyes closed. The darkness surrounded him. He could hear the cracking oft he wooden furniture in his office. The ghostly sound of the wind blowing through the corridors of the Volturi castle.

And in the distance he could hear the soft sound of Sam's breathing. He focused on that. The even sound of the air entering and leaving her lungs had a slightly calming effect on him.

His muscles relaxed the tiniest bit. Maybe, just maybe, he underestimated her. Perhaps she could handle all of this.

He just had to tell her in the right way. So she wouldn't think of him as a monster.

„ _Eventually she will find out, you know that."_ a voice in the back of his mind snarled.

Yes, he knew that. But maybe he could get her to trust him enough until then, so it wouldn't matter anymore.

Suddenly the sound of Sam's breathing changed. It faltered for a moment and then it came back but mixed with gentle moans.

She was waking up.

In the blink of an eye Caius was on his feet and out of his office. There was no more time to ponder about this.

* * *

Sam opened her eyes the moment Caius entered the room. She still looked a bit crumpled but when she saw him her look brightened up.

Could she really be happy to see him? Or…

She fumbled fort he notebook and pen he had given her to communicate and which she had placed on the nightstand next to his bed.

Or maybe she was just excited to finally get some answers.

„How do you feel?" he asked although it was obvious that her throat wasn't well enough yet so she could speak.

 _Better_ she wrote. Then she looked at him expectantly.

Caius walked over to her, sat himself on the edge oft he bed and looked at her, his face blank of any expression.

She raised an eyebrow at him as if to say _Do I really have to ask you again?_

„Yes, I will answer your questions. What would you like to know first?"

 _Where am I?_

He thought she was finished but before he could say anything she added another word below the question.

 _Exactly_

Caius wanted to smile but at the same time he felt like someone had punched him in the pit of his stomache.

Since their last conversation she had learned something. If she wanted information from him she needed to ask precise questions.

He sighed. „You are in my private chambers at the castle of Volterra."

 _Why did you bring me here?_

„You were injured. Badly. I brought you here as this was the safest place for you to heal."

 _Okay… So, does this mean once I'm healed and my voice is restored I can go home?_

His face froze. This was what he had dreaded.

„No.", he said in a flat voice.

 _No?!_

He clenched his jaw but said nothing.

Sam's hand flew across the paper again and he noticed that she was shaking. He could smell the adrenaline in her blood.

 _Then when can I go home?_

But Caius remained silent. He couldn't thell her. He didn't want to see the look in her eyes.

Again he heard the sound of pen against paper and he looked up.

 _Caius, WHEN can I go home?!_

Her face showed a mixture of panick and anger.

„Never. You can't go home anymore» he finally said.

«WHAT ?!»

Her voice was a high pitched and hoarse sound and it hurt the ear as much as it seemed to hurt her throat because right after she had shrieked she grimaced in pain.

Reflexive he moved to comfort her but he stopped himself before his hand touched her. He mustn't give in now.

„But you can't…" her voice failed again and she aggressively wrote the last part of her sentence on the next page of the notebook.

… _keep me prisoner here!_

Her eyes glistened with anger as she glared at him and he clenched his hands to fists.

Anger washed over him.

What did she think? That he had planned this all along? That it was easy for him to tell her that he had robbed her of her freedom?

All of this was like walking through a never ending nightmare for him and there she was making it even harder for him.

«You are not a prisoner,» he hissed while giving his best to surpress a growl.

In all his years of being king of the vampire world he had gotten used to the fact that when he said something people would accept it. And if not… well, there was something there could be done about it that would change their mind very quickly.

But now, for the first time he couldn't. He couldn't make her to accept his words by force. And that was new to him.

Unfortunately, so was not losing his temper when someone questioned him and it took him everything not to growl or bark at her.

„You may move freely within my chambers and the gardens," he said in a strained voice.

„You… call… that… freely?" she pressed out every single word by force, ignoring the pain in her throat. _She_ would have yelled at him if she had could.

Caius hated to admit it but her boldness to argue with him despite knowing that he was a vampire impressed him.

But then again she didn't know just what kind of vampire he was.

„It isn't safe for you here. There are other vampire's in the castle who might not know who you are and attack you."

„Then… let me go… home."

He got up. „I can't."

„Rubbish!" she got up too, walking over to him, a grim expression on her face. She was determined to win this. « Of c… course you can let me… go home. You said it… yourself. I'm not safe here. »

« Samantha it's not that easy. I can't let you go. »

« Yes, you can. »

« No I can't ! », he snapped at her, « You know too much! And you've seen too much! All I can do is keeping you here now or kill you!»

His voice had risen with every word he had said. His outburst had taken her by surprise and she looked at him startled.

He wanted to stop but it was too late. The beast inside him was slowly taking over.

„This is the only place I can protect you. So if you value your life you will do as I say and stay within my chambers, do you understand? »

For a second he thought she might back away from him and he didn't know what he would have done then.

But then the startled expression on her face gave way to a look so cold it could challenge his own.

«Fine.» she said solwly and her voice was cold and sharp like ice.

„Now if you don't mind," she said with a condescending hint, « I would like to wash away all that blood around my neck. Is there a bathroom I can use?"

„Over there." he said quietly and gestured to a door across the room. His eyes didn't meet hers. He couldn't look at her. He already felt sorry for how he had acted towards her and that he had let the beast get the better of him.

„Just… call if you need any help."

„Oh, I won't." she snapped, walked over tot he bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

Caius sighed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Chapter 12**

Sam stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. The bathroom was full of steam. She must have been under that shower for longer than she had thought.

Quickly she tip-toed over the cold marble floor to the washbasin with the large mirror above and rubbed her hand over the steamed up glass to clear it up a bit. Then she examined her reflection.

Had she changed? Was there anything… _new_ to her appearance?

But no. It was just her. Same dark, messy, short hair. Same pale skin. The same tall, lanky girl as always. All skin and bones.

Although, had her eyes always been this bright ? She leaned in closer.

„ _No,"_ she thought, _„Just the light. God I'm getting paranoid!"_

Her eyes fell to the white patch on her neck.

„ _Let's see if this looks as bad as it feels,"_ she pursed her lips and ripped the plaster off with one quick jerk.

„Ouch! Oh hell!" she exclaimed.

Yes, yes it definitely looked as bad as it felt. There was a dark red half-moon shaped wound at the base of her neck, crusted with dried blood.

Carefully she touched it with the tip of her index finger as if to test if it was real.

„Ooooh, ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

Yes, definitely real too.

„ _Fuck! I'd better cover that again."_ She looked around, _„Jesus Christ, I hope there're some plasters in here."_

Suddenly she highly doubted it. This bathroom looked nothing like her own, where among a large range of shampoo, conditioner and sponges, someone could also find plasters and a first-aid kit.

But this one was… huge. To say the least. And marble and all in all seemed pretty cold. Not exactly a place where she'd have fancied taking a long hot bath after a hard day.

It seemed... in loss of a better word, uninviting.

There were a couple of bathroom cabinets with drawers and stuff but now that she thought of it, what the hell should be in there?

If vampires were frozen in time then what would they need a bathroom for anyway?

She felt the panick dwell up in her. _„Okay, great! Relax. You're just in a strangers bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel and with a painful, barely started healing wound on your neck. Oh and for all you know that could get you killed. Nothing to panick about."_

„ _All right. What first? A fresh plaster. Okay, okay, you got this Sam."_

She walked over to the cabinet next to her and opened the first drawer. To her surprise it actually contained something. Washing-clothes.

„ _Okay, it's a start. Next one"  
_

Finally, in the fifth drawer she found a first-aid kit, similar to the one she owned. And there were actually band-aids in it.

 _"Eureka ! "_

Quickly she turned to the large mirror again and tentiatively placed one plaster over the wound. As soon as this had healed a bit further she would have to treat it with some Bepanthen Ointment.

Hopefully anyone around here knew what that was. Because judging the way Caius had hissed at her earlier she wasn't so sure he would let her take a stroll to the nearest pharmacy to get it herself.

 _"All right. Now clothes."  
_

She looked at the bundle of her clothes she had put on a chair in the corner. They were bloody and dirty and kind of smelled like rain.

She couldn't put that back on. But perhaps she could wash them somewhen later? Did blood stains go out?

 _"Nope! No way! Forget it girl!"_ her subcosciousness rebuked her, _"You're not gonna wear this again._ _Ever."_

"But..."

 _"Forget it."_

"Maaan. My favourite pair of trousers." she whined.

 _"Well, you know whose fault that was. This whole misery actually."_ her subconsciousness smugly stated. She could almost see a little version of herself sitting on her shoulder, arrogantly examining her fingernails while talking to her.

"Yeah. Yours. Since it conveniently slipped your attention to warn me that the strange yet hot guy waiting for me in a dark alleyway behind a pub might be dangerous to consort with. Thank you by the way." she snarled back.

 _"I beg your pardon?_ _Who was it that decided to let the stupid hormons take over your brain as soon as said guy made eyes at you?_ _There you are!"_

Sam gnashed her teeth. That little bitch was right.

 _"I tell you, he had this whole thing planned out. To bring you here and extend the fun of playing with you and your feelings for a bit longer before he gets rid of you. After all, you're just food to him."_

That hurt. Deeply. More so because she knew her subconsciousness was voicing her own insecurities. What if it was that way? If she really was just a plaything to Caius?

Tears stung in her eyes and she quickly blinked them away.

"Oh, shut up, will you?" she angrily hissed at the voice, that was, and she was well aware of that, actually just in her head.

"I don't need your wise-arse comments, I need fresh clothes."

 _"Well, you could go out and ask him..."_ the voice mumbled sheepishly.

"What? Just a minute ago you were of the opinion that he was the root of all evil."

 _"Yeah, well, you do need some clothes, don't you?"_

She huffed, "Fine. But next time you could make up your mind a little quicker. I'm freezing to death here."

But the voice was gone and Sam immediately felt like an idiot for arguing with herself.

Stupid subconsciousness!

Hesitantely she headed for the bathroom door the towel firmly wrapped around her body. She might have kissed Caius in that alleyway but this didn't mean she was stoked to walk around him half naked.

Actually she had seldomly felt so embarrassed and she intensely hoped that her face wouldn't turn into a red traffic light.

She opened the door tentiavely and peeked out.

Caius was nowhere to be seen so she stepped out of the bathroom clasping her arms around her skinny frame.

Should she say something?

Her eyes fell on the bed. It was nealty made, certainly not the way she had left it. And on top of it laid a bundle of fresh clothes and a note in an elegant hand-writing, that must have belonged to Caius.

 _Samantha,_

 _You will be in need of fresh clothes.  
I had those brought for you and hope they will fit you. I will be back when you are dressed._

 _Caius_

The bundle consisted of a pair of dark blue skinnies and a comfy looking black jumper. Besides that socks, a bralette and fresh panties.

Sam bit her lips, preventing a slight smile creeping on her face. He had kidnapped her and she was still mad at him, she reminded herself.

Nonetheless she grabbed the clothes and went back to the bathroom to get dressed.

* * *

The fresh clothes felt super comfy and Sam already regretted the moment she had to take them off again.

She had dried her hair a bit so they werent soaking wet anymore and now stepped back into the bedroom she had woken up in mere hours before.

As promised Caius was back, standing on the other side of the room with a blank expression on his angelic face, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

He opened his mouth to say something but Sam was faster: „How do you do that? Knowing exactly when I am dressed and coming back I mean."

„I am a vampire, as you have already figured out ealier. I can hear you from miles away and tell what you are doing." he stated as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Sam instantly thought back to her not so silent argument with her subconsciousness before and her cheecks started to burn.

 _Note to self: Arguments with voices in your head must stay in your head!_

A brief grin flashed over Caius' face as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. It wasn't the smile she had seen on him before though.

This one was one of bemusement and – at the same time – had something devilish at it.

Angrily she glared at him but remained silent. She didn't know what to say and the grin was gone as quickly as it had come.

„You must be hungry," He said in a flat voice. Not a trace of amusement.

She was about to deny it, not happy about the fact that he again seemed to know what she needed, but, as if to confirm what he had just said, her human needs made themselves known by growling loudly, leaving Sam quite disgruntled.

She half expected the eerie grin to reappear on his face but it didn't. Instead Caius held his hand out towards her. „Come."

Well, if he thought she was going to hold his hand like a little girl he was sadly mistaken. He was not herboyfriend ergo no holding hands!

She crossed the room, walking past him and straight to the door.

She didn't see the hurt expression on Caius's face as she ignored his gesture.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Chapter 13**

Sam and Caius walked down several hallways and corridors. Some were lit by sunlight, which shone through huge glass windows, while others, especially as they seemed to descend deeper into what indeed was a castle as Caius had said earlier, had torches along the walls, casting long shadows oft he people walking their way.

A strange feeling overcame Sam, leaving her cold and unsettled. Constantly she felt the urge to look over her shoulder to make sure they weren't followed.

What kind of place was this?

Whatever creatures lived here they certainly weren't human.

Again she felt the desire to turn around and see what was behind them but she resisted and fixed her gaze on Caius' slender figure walking mere steps in front of her.

His every move was so naturally graceful and.. and.. she was at a loss of words. If she hadn't seen and heard his feet on the ground she could have sworn he was floating.

No way anyone could move like this. It was almost… inhumane.

Inhumane. How ironic that this was the first word to pop into her head. Because that was exactly what Caius was.

Not human.

‚Oh god! I should've listened to my guts when I first met him. They had been right all along', she thought to herself.

 _Yeah we are quite often you know?_ The voice of her subconsciousness suddenly chipped in.

Sam supressed a huff. Was this voice kidding her?

„ _Oh, for Crhist sake go back to sleep! I don't need you here!"_ she mentally hissed at it furrowing her brows.

 _I…_

„ _No!"_

 _But…_

„ _Hush!"_

Silence.

Thanks god! This was one hell of a scary place and she needed to stay focused not to get in any trouble here. Or worse.

Having finished that thought, she bumped into something cold and rock solid and stumbled backwards.

Caius had stopped in front of a wooden dor and she had walked right into him. So much for concentration.

Too fast as that her bare eye could catch it Caius wrapped his arm around her waist, steadying her.

He looked at her slightly worried and she was sure to hear a mumbled „Careful there." from him.

„Sorry", she murmured coyly, „I got a bit distracted."

How could he gor from that devilish grin back in the bedroom to being a sweet and caring guy in the blink of a secon?

‚Damn it! How the hell am I supposed to figure out where I stand with him if he's like this", she thought.

„You shouldn't. It can be dangerous around here", he sounded cold again and Sam wondered whether vampires could be bipolar too.

But before she could pursue this thought he let go of her and opened the door that had caused him tos top in the first place.

He held it open for Sam and she entered what seemed tob e a kitchen.

The place looked rather old-fashioned having still a gas stoce and one of those min coloured retro fridges you nowadays either could see in movies or buy for a lot of money.

But hey, at least she wouldn't starve here.

„It's for our secretary. She's mortal as well", Caius explained over the sound oft he door closing behind them.

Surprised by his words Sam turned to face him: „You employ humans here?"

„Yes. It was Aro's idea."

„Why?"

„I have _absolutely_ no clue how he came up with this rid…"

„Errm, no", Sam interrupted him, „I meant, why do you employ humans here?"

„Oh, that. Fort he lower work we can't give tot he guard."

Sam nodded slowly, her brows now furrowed: „Right."

Aro?

Guard?

Lower work?

For some reason she felt extremely discriminated by his last statement. After all Caius had been human once too. Fine, he was dead now and apparently had some inhumane treats but still.

Did he really consider himself above her? Ort he whole human race fort hat matter?

She opened her mouth and it was on the tip of her tongue to confront him with this but in the very last moment she decided to postpone that to later.

This might be a very delicate subject and she still didn't fully know what she had gotten herself into here.

„Who's Aro?", she asked instead, „And what guard?"

He hesitated a second too long with his answer, probably hoping she wouldn't notice it but she did.

Some time ago she had learnt that one could gather more from how people acted and racted rather than from what they said. Words could be deceiving. Body-language rarely lied.

Obviously Caius didn't know what to tell her on this.

„You will meet him later", he stated curtly. No further word on her question about the guard.

Now Sam's face turned hard as well. She didn't like being treated like a dumb little girl who had to contend herself with some short answers and expected tob e quiet.

It was her damn right to know after he had dragged her into all this.

„When is later?", she pressured.

„After you've eaten something. Your growling stomach is very distracting."

He walked past her towards one oft he cupboards and opened it.

„Sit down. I'll get you something to silence it."

Now this didn't sound belitteling at all. Any other time she would have found it sweet that an attractive guy like Caius offered to cook for her.

But this was different. He had dragged her into this… vampire-castle-thing, kept secrets from her and his whole appearance ever since she had left that bathroom earlier practically screamed condescending. And she hated it.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned towards him. She didn't care that she acted like a little child being stubborn.

He didn't get to boss her around.

„Sit down", he repeated as he took something out oft hat cupboard and took a look at the text printed on the carton box. „I just have to check how long this needs tob e cooked."

Sam raised her brows in disbelief: „That's a pack of cereals. And you're holding it upside down."

Next thing she learned was that vampires apparently couldn't blush because if they could have, Caius' face would have matched a traffic light by now, she was sure oft hat.

His grip on the cereal box tightened ever so slightly.

„You have no idea how to cook, do you?"

It took him some effort to say the little word: „No."

Sam sighed: „Leave that to me or I might actually starve. Oh, and give me that."

She plucked the cereal box out of his hand and put it back in the cupboard. Then she turned tot he fridge.

Whileshe prepared herself a meal Caius watched her, not moving an inch. She couldn't tell whether he was ashamed oft he fact that he couldn't cook and she had found out so quickly or not.

But since he hadn't protested when she had taken the cereal box out of his hand she estimated that now she might could get some information out of him.

Maybe catch him off guard.

„So vampires don't eat?", she asked trying to sound casual. She had to take it slow so it wouldn't sound like she was interrogating him.

Caius took a deep breath. Then he finally moved: „No."

„Why didn't you just tell me? I can do this myself. It's no problem", she said softly.

„I'm… I didn't know how. You still don't know so much and I still don't know how to tell you everything."

She looked at him while stirring in a frying pan. Her thoughts were spinning. Sometimes he was so hard to figure out.

When she had first met him he had been sort of arrogant yet quite charming.

She couldn't deny that she had been quite intrigued by him that night.

And then there had been the excitement she had felt when he had come back to the pub. For the first time in months she had felt the butterflies in her stomach go crazy. Though it hadn't been her boyfriend who had caused them to do so.

He had seen her crying that night yet, strangely, she hadn't cared. At least not too much. It was the first time that it had come to her mind that maybe, she was falling for him.

Then there had been that awful night of her birthday, when she had caught Sebastian cheating on her. Caius had been so sweet that night.

He had danced with her the moment he had realised that Sebastian wouldn't show up. He had tried to make her feel better while walking home and comforted her after they had caught Seb red handed.

He had called her 'Angel' that night. She had longed to ask him to stay with her. To just hold her, make her feel safe and never let her go.

Sadly, sleep had been faster than her.

And then there was the night of the firework. And the kiss.

She could still feel his cold lips against hers… his body pressed against hers… her hands in his damp hair…

Nothing had been the same afterwards. Whether her life nor Caius himself.

Ever since he had been cold and somewhat condescending as if she was talking to him through a wall.

But now this wall was gone. Or at least part of it.

That last sentence… it sounded so much more like the Caius she had gotten to know. The Caius she had started to fall for.

"You could start by telling me who Aro ist", she suggested.

He hesitated.

Carefully she put the content of the pan – scrambled eggs and some bacon – on a plate and placed it on the kitchen counter.

"Come here. Sit down. You're making me all nervous standing there."


End file.
